Mia Economou 2022 Young Creative
Mia Economou is the runner up of the 2022 Young Creatives Awards,
Mia became involved in the Inner West Young Creatives awards three years ago, during the first wave of Covid. She saw an ad for it in the Inner West Council newsletter. She had never entered a competition for her art, so she thought, why not! She came runner up this year in the 19-24 year olds category, won Librarians 2021 and won in 16-18 year olds category in 2020, she has seen her work evolve over the last three years through the Young Creatives Awards due to the encouragement and mentorship the library program has given her.
Through her paintings, she hopes to convey feelings often felt when in the outdoors like serenity, peace, solitude etc. The landscape art is also therapeutic for her, it is an opportunity for her to go and explore to find subject matter. She is then then able to embrace the atmosphere she felt at the location through her painting.
Current work
When Her acrylic painting Ozark Amy is inspired by the novel Gone Girl. It is a story of Amy Dunne, who frames her husband, Nick for her disappearance/murder. The artwork captures a scene in the novel where Amy is laying low in the Ozark mountains of Missouri. "I love nature as a subject matter, as it is irregular, the shapes you see do not follow a specific mould or code, which is why I enjoy painting it".
This is Mia's first piece set in the natural world where she has included a person, who will be known as "Ozark Amy. lnstead of painting Amy as Amy, she has painted her as herself. She has done this as she thinks many women, can see a part of themselves in Amy's character and her relationship. She wanted to communicate the message of the way society controls women and pushes them into specific roles in relationships.
"Generally my art communicates the message about the beauty and healing quality of nature. During Covid, walking along the Cooks River and doing studies for my work took on a strongly calming quality and was healing during a time of uncertainty and fear".
Upcoming shows and workshops
Ozark Amy will be part of the Young Creatives Exhibition 9-13 November at Chrissie Cotter Gallery. She will be running a painting workshop in the library for other young people during youth week 2023 (April).
Wednesday 9 November — Sunday 13 November, 2022